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I'm curious whether some of you have had home repairs or renovations going on while teaching, and how you coped (or didn't cope).

Right now I have two guys working on the roof right outside my piano studio, and another fellow adjacent on the other side redoing my bathroom floor and tiling walls.

All this work was supposed to be completed two weeks ago, and I should have started up my season by now, but I've had to push back to next week. Everybody assures me they will be done either today or tomorrow. We'll see. They're all getting close, and they all know I run a piano studio.

They're also all good guys, and these are necessary projects. I'm not angry, and delays are always part of contracting. But I don't think I could be teaching while this is all going on. Quite an intrusion and upheaval, and sometimes noisy.

So, any war stories on this topic? Anybody on this board actually carry on teaching during home renovations? How long did it last? Did you go crazy? Would you ever do it again?

Curious Peter

P.S. I won't lose income, since I'll just teach later into June, but it's not a great start to my season.

I'm curious whether some of you have had home repairs or renovations going on while teaching, and how you coped (or didn't cope).

Right now I have two guys working on the roof right outside my piano studio, and another fellow adjacent on the other side redoing my bathroom floor and tiling walls.

All this work was supposed to be completed two weeks ago, and I should have started up my season by now, but I've had to push back to next week. Everybody assures me they will be done either today or tomorrow. We'll see. They're all getting close, and they all know I run a piano studio.

They're also all good guys, and these are necessary projects. I'm not angry, and delays are always part of contracting. But I don't think I could be teaching while this is all going on. Quite an intrusion and upheaval, and sometimes noisy.

So, any war stories on this topic? Anybody on this board actually carry on teaching during home renovations? How long did it last? Did you go crazy? Would you ever do it again?

Curious Peter

P.S. I won't lose income, since I'll just teach later into June, but it's not a great start to my season.

Personally, I'd start scheduling lessons for next week, explaining that the work may still be going on and apologizing in advance for the disturbances. I think most people are understanding and once they come and hear how it will be, they can tune most of it out.

I've not had lessons while work was being done on my house, but I have had it where it was being done on a neighbor's house. Not much you can do about it, and laugh and move on. If need be, you may have to wait until a really loud noise passes to continue what you're saying, but I think in general it shouldn't be awful. Just a minor inconvenience, and they know it's temporary.

I would tell students, and their parents if necessary, that the noise and distraction is good training for playing w/focus under less than perfect circumstances, something that occurs to pianists from time to time.

ps...I have had to tell students and parents that from time to time because of unexpected noise.

currawong
6000 Post Club Member
Registered: 05/15/07
Posts: 6148
Loc: Down Under

I'll be so glad when my renovations actually start - I've been waiting so long, with extraneous stuff all packed up (where did I pack that item which I now realise I want??) and piles of boxes everywhere. I'm prepared to enjoy apologising for the noise of the work itself rather than apologising for the present state of the bathroom, lack of space due to storage etc.

My daughter took violin in a house undergoing some renovations. She was young enough (and lessons were short enough) that I sat in. The teacher may have been mildly bothered by the noise, but we were not. I recollect that the teacher was also teaching one of the contractor's kids in exchange for the work, and when the work was done, that kid discontinued-possibly to everyone's satisfaction.

Good luck.Remodeling and renovating are horrible!

_________________________ Having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it.– Roald Dahl

We just painted the guest bedroom, so now that means we can hopefully start on the guest bathroom - we have boxes everywhere for the new cabinets in there and the new toilet. Quite unsightly for when the occasional student comes here. They don't seem to mind it though. I think many people have their homes in some sort of upheaval - whether from kids toys or weekend warriors.